Down the Rabbit Hole: Navigating the Joys and Pitfalls of the Internet Era

Picture you're a 14-year-old growing up in the digital age, with a universe of information at your fingertips - thrilling, isn't it? 

That's the world my son and I explore in this honest chat, scrutinizing the marvels and the perils of the internet era. We dive into the advantages, like the ease of satisfying curiosity or troubleshooting issues, and the pitfalls, like the danger of sliding into a rabbit hole of misinformation. We even share personal anecdotes about treading the thin line between leveraging this tool and getting consumed by it. 

Consider this: have you ever sought the assistance of the internet to satisfy your deepest desires? 
We also discuss this sensitive subject, debating the temptation to utilize the internet as the ultimate problem solver for our soul's longings.

 We navigate this complex landscape together, underlining the peril of using the internet for something only God can truly offer - eternal satisfaction. 
Towards the end, we pray for our listeners, hoping for divine guidance in maintaining the delicate balance between using the internet as a tool and becoming its slave. 

Enjoy this journey of reflection and learning with us!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:18

Hey everybody, all right. So I have got a special treat for us today, at least a special treat for me, because joining me in the podcast studio is my son, my 14-year-old son, nul. Hey, nul, howdy, all right. So we're going to talk about growing up in an internet age and some of the challenges there, and you are what is called a digital native, nul. You don't if I'm not mistaken, you do not remember the world before the internet. Is that correct? That is correct. I do.

Speaker 2: 0:48

Ah, fascinating yeah.

Speaker 1: 0:50

I know you're thrilled about that, so this is a quick podcast. But what do you find? Is a 14-year-old guy about? What's great and what's hard about?

Speaker 2: 1:03

the internet age. It's actually the same thing for both of them, which is the easy accessibility of all the information in the whole wide world at your fingertips.

Speaker 1: 1:15

Having access to all the information in the world at your fingertips is the greatest thing and the hardest thing. Yes, all right, and, by the way, listeners, I did not know what he's going to answer before we started this. So what's great about having access to all the information? You can find out anything you want. What's the last thing that you looked for? Just to find out some information about something.

Speaker 2: 1:35

It's a good question, probably how to set up the Wi-Fi router in our house.

Speaker 1: 1:38

Oh, very good. Okay, I appreciate that.

Speaker 2: 1:41

Of course you're welcome.

Speaker 1: 1:41

Yeah, and because your dad didn't know, for example, and your mom didn't know. All right, so, and what's hard about having all the information in the world at your fingertips?

Speaker 2: 1:50

Like it's kind of a dark old situation if you've ever seen Agents of Shield.

Speaker 1: 1:55

That's a little analogy Sorry. What's a dark old for those who haven't.

Speaker 2: 1:58

It's a book with all the secrets of the universe on it, but reading one page makes you go insane, because it's all the secrets of the universe.

Speaker 1: 2:07

So dark, old, like it has all the secrets of the universe. But it also makes you go insane to read it and you're saying the in-nets, like that.

Speaker 2: 2:16

Yeah, because you have all the information but there's no, there's no one on there telling you, hey, this information is bad, don't? So you have not only information that is just wrong, but there's also information that is wrong to know and information that's not beneficial to know, and, yeah, stuff like that. So you'll run across things that are like how do you set up the Wi-Fi router? And it's like, oh, I don't know, but here's how to destroy your Wi-Fi router, if you ever wanted to.

Speaker 2: 2:47

Yeah, and how to build a blowtorch and how to make a bomb. Yeah, not good things to know, but when you have them in your head, then they're in your head, you know, and it's hard not to be like wait how do you? Make a bomb again. Yeah, now I'm curious and I want to try doing it, and then you're in prison.

Speaker 1: 3:04

So that's kind of like the dark hold where you're kind of like doesn't make you insane, but you find yourself like going down rabbit holes that you didn't want to go down, you weren't looking to go down. Right, I've experienced that. Right, me too. I think my level of curiosity online like there are things like questions that I've like clicked on to find the answer to that I've never even thought about asking the question to in my entire life.

Speaker 2: 3:28

Yeah, and actually the feature on Google where if you search up a question, it has all those subcategories, like if you're trying to set up your Wi-Fi router, it says people who search this also asked how do I set up my Wi-Fi router with a wired setup? How do I like what's an ethernet cable, like all that stuff? And as you click on more, more pop up it's, I think, four, and then every time you click on one, four more appear and as you're going down you're scrolling down and as they're appearing they drop down. It gets farther and farther away from the question you originally asked, which is like the perfect example of a rabbit hole. Yeah, because it just sucks you in and I find myself just sitting there clicking like wait, what is an ethernet cable? What? How do you hook an ethernet cable up to your TV? What? What are the benefits of TV?

Speaker 1: 4:14

But, yeah, and in part, what you're saying like applies to every single person who listens to this podcast, because this is, as you know, your dad has this cookie crazy job where he helps people who are dealing with sexual integrity issues, and so a lot of people find themselves starting in one spot on the internet and then they kind of click a little closer and a little closer, a little closer, and then they find themselves in a tempting situation where they're looking at stuff, or confronted with stuff that they weren't intending to go to when they sat down, but now that's where they are. So, yeah, so what you're describing is familiar, I think, to all of us, myself included. How do you deal with it? How do you deal with not not going down the rabbit hole, or do you just go down the rabbit hole?

Speaker 2: 4:58

I'm not very good at staying out of the rabbit hole. They're very interesting, and seeing the little toes of the rabbit just make me want to chase it.

Speaker 1: 5:08

That's a good illustration. I like that. Thank you, appreciate it. Yeah, and, to be fair, I'm I'm not that great at it either, I think I think one of the things that I I try to do is to not get close to the rabbit hole. To begin with, like it helps me to have a specific search. But even there, sometimes I I struggle with following different rabbit holes, different places. So I like, yeah, just having some pretty solid boundaries around how I spend screen time has helped.

Speaker 1: 5:33

Hasn't resolved it entirely. Do you ever? Do you ever think about like so? I heard this quote recently and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. I heard I heard this quote that it was by John Mark Cormoran. He was talking about desire and he said that lots of philosophers through the ages have said that human desire can never be satisfied. And when we put ourselves in front of this this infinite internet or seemingly infinite internet, where all the information in the world is available, good and bad, that we're going to experience desire and pursue stuff to find satisfaction, but we're never going to find it because we're never satisfied anyway. If human desire can never be satisfied, what is the internet? How does the internet intersect with that? What does that mean about our time online?

Speaker 2: 6:24

It depends on what you're doing online, but, like, if you're looking for something, and I mean if you have a desire that is not like, well, I don't know how to explain it, but there's different types of desires the desire to fix a router in your house versus the desire to have friends and to have a good time and spend your day. Well, the internet can fix one of those. It's easy, easy. Maybe it gets you really frustrated because it takes you all day, but the desire to have more friends and desire to be a more charismatic person or to have people like you is not something that the internet can fix, and so, which fits into the quote about the human desire is not something that can be fulfilled. That you can only find with the Lord.

Speaker 1: 7:17

Wow, I like that a lot. I'm actually really impressed with your answer. I'd love to talk to your father I don't know who he is, but you probably got it all from your mother but like what I like about it. So what I heard you say was there are some things that we look for online that are kind of very specific things, like a task like wiring or fixing your wireless router where it serves well because there's an end spot to it. Like is my router fixed, I'm done.

Speaker 1: 7:44

But there are other larger desires in our life, like I want to be loved, I want to be charismatic, I want to be lovable, I want to have friends that are more in line with those, like the deeper desires that are never going to be satisfied. And so the online world just kind of leaves us on this slippery slope that we keep going down that rabbit hole. So I wonder if there's a way to categorize like or even to mark in our lives like okay, I'm in a space where I'm looking for something that's pretty concrete and I know there's an end point to it, and so that's what I'm going to look for online Versus those other places where, if we're paying attention or desire, recognize like I'm. There's no end to searching for that desire online. I wonder if there's a way to grow in discerning the difference between what we're looking for online in those two different ways, so we can be more responsible in this internet age.

Speaker 2: 8:36

We're living in. Yeah, I don't have the answer for that one, but let's try, let's try you, and I will try. Okay, let's give it a go.

Speaker 1: 8:43

Maybe we can report back later.

Speaker 2: 8:44

Take a crack at it.

Speaker 1: 8:45

Hey, we're out of time.

Speaker 2: 8:46

No way.

Speaker 1: 8:47

We are.

Speaker 2: 8:48

That's insane.

Speaker 1: 8:48

You're awesome.

Speaker 2: 8:49

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 8:50

Thanks for joining me on this podcast. Thank you for having me on the podcast, jesus. I pray for Nul and me and all of our listeners too, lord, that you would help us to bring our deepest desires somewhere besides the internet and, lord, to use it as a tool that helps us with things that have an end, like fixing a router or looking up a piece of information or getting directions. That we would stop buying the lie that we can satisfy the truest, deepest desires of our soul there. Lord, you are infinite. We look to you From Jesus' name, amen.